DETROIT – Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard injured his left knee in Monday’s 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at Joe Louis Arena, the same knee that caused him to miss eight games in December.

But general manager Ken Holland said he was told it’s a minor injury, that Howard is day-to-day and that his status for Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks will be determined on Tuesday.

Even if it is a minor injury, the Red Wings might not risk playing Howard right away.

Holland said Jonas Gustavsson is ready to play on Wednesday. He has been out since Dec. 28 with a pulled groin.

Howard might have been hurt with 3:06 to play in the first period. He was slow to get up after covering the puck and was flexing his knee. The Red Wings were trailing 3-1 at the time. Petr Mrazek finished the game.

Howard had been particularly strong in four of his previous five starts.

“Howie just kind of got himself going,” coach Mike Babcock said. “He had a tough first half obviously. Someone else gets an opportunity.

“It’s the NHL. We can whine all we want about injuries. They happen. You’ve got to have enough team depth. Obviously we have people that we’ve had out for a long time.”

Gustavsson has been solid when healthy, posting an 11-3-2 record, with a 2.39 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.